"The Mask," the late night TV talk show dealing with sex-related issues that will premier in China on Jan. 1, may find a receptive audience.

The half-hour program will explore various issues from common Chinese people's daily sex lives. A group of experts on hand to offer advice.

The difference between this show and others is that "it will go directly to the point instead of beating around the bush," said the Beijing Shixi Media Company, the producer.

"Any sex-related question could be asked and explored in depth at the show so that the concrete sex-related problems could be solved in the real sense," said Li Xichen, president of Shixi Media.

"Our ultimate goal is to teach the adults the right methods in handling their problems," he said.

A six-hour on-line survey by the China Youth Daily and sohu.com found that 92.7 percent said they will watch the program, 88.3 percent said the program is appearing at the right time, when Chinese society has developed into a relatively mature stage, and 56.3 percent said their main purpose for watching the show would be to learn answers to their own problems.

"I would like to be a guest on the show," said Xiao Liang, a student at Beijing Normal University. "If normal channels for sex knowledge are blocked, porn websites will just take their place."

The show is called "The Mask" because guests wear masks that will cover most of their faces, hiding their identities. The masks will be color-coded to signal the particular problem that the guest is facing.

"Since there is no law that prohibits people from chatting on sex issues at a TV show, we want to be the first one doing that," said Liu. "Anyway, the rising proportion of AIDS and venereal diseases has forced the re-emergence of sex health and ethics topics into public view."

In his view, the central government's early nods towards condom ads can be seen as a sign the national policy on sex-related issues is easing.

"We have to make it clear that it's simply designed as a sex education program for adults, not porn," said Liu.

Ms. Hao from a local primary school, a respondent of the survey, said the program must perform carefully so that it will not degrade into porn.

"It's really a great thing to promote such a program in China,"said Li Yinhe, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "We hope what it spread is not only correct sex knowledge, but correct sex concepts."

"I am not sure I will watch it or not, but I would not stop my college-age daughter from watching it," said Mr. Guo, a military officer at his fifties. 

(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2004)